Show US your LIFE!!!! ARE YOU READY???????

For some reason about this time every year, I become very anxious for football season. I love OLE MISS and Oxford...it is so fun to see all the girls in their pearls, dresses, and heels. I love seeing the little boys throwing footballs with their daddys. I LOVE hearing the Ole Miss band play DIXIE. 

I live for seeing the tents with chandeliers and floral arrangements. It is so fun to see what my mama has made (and it is a given that it will taste heavenly) and what the menu will be for the day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Grove. The tradition. The excitement on game day. 

Needless to say...football season cannot get here fast enough!

Ole Miss fans, ARE U READY????

Here is what some of the press has to say about tailgating at Ole Miss in 

The Grove:

ESPN ranked The Grove as the number 2 college football tailgating spot in the country.^[8] In its review, it said:^[8]

“

Tailgating in The Grove is an experience so sublime even native son William Faulkner would be at a loss to describe it.

”

Additionally, Sports Illustrated ranked The Grove number 1.^[5] In it's review, it said:^[5]

“

There is no more beautiful spot to tailgate, nor one richer in tradition; the Grove has been the site of pregame picnicking for more than half a century.

”

The New York Times called The Grove "the mother and mistress of outdoor ritual mayhem":^[2]

“

The glory of the Grove is legend at all of Ole Miss’s rival schools in the Southeastern Conference and beyond. It is the mother and mistress of outdoor ritual mayhem.

”

A common saying by "grovers" is "We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party."^[2]

Joe Cahn, known as "The Commissioner of Tailgating", said after his 2003 Tailgating tour that The Grove is "probably the most single outstanding tailgating area in the country."^[9] He continued:

“

There may be bigger…there may be louder…but there truly isn’t any better tailgating than Ole Miss.

”

The Columbia Missourian newspaper called The Grove, "the mecca of tailgating in American sports."^[6]

“The girls here are the best,” he said. “They’re smart, pretty, high-class girls. They have everything you’d want in a woman. And this place is full of them.”

The Grove is also full of traditional Southern food: fried chicken, pork, homemade dressings and mashed potatoes. A pair of MU fans roast a pig over an open grill. Mary Thompson, who has been coming to Ole Miss tailgates for decades, began cooking her tailgate dishes on Monday. The final spread includes fried chicken, chips, salsa, cheese sandwiches, strawberries and her signature stuffed eggs.

The heat is now unbearable, but the party rages on. Cheerleaders perform routines at a small amphitheater located in the middle of The Grove. Kids wearing their favorite players’ jerseys throw footballs that are too big for their hands. Suddenly, a loud voice breaks the hum of the crowd.

“Are you ready?” a young man screams to the masses.

“Hell yes! Damn right!” they reply, as if on cue.

Then, in unison, they begin to sing the Hotty Toddy fight song:

Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty

Who in the hell are we - Hey

Flim Flam, Bim Bam

Ole Miss By Damn!